How much to pay a teenage cat feeder?

[CurlewKate]

Never had to pay before- always had reciprocal arrangements with adults. But neighbour's 14 year old is desperately saving, so I offered him the job. Twice a day to give some wet food and top up water and crunchies for 5 days. What's the going rate? No litter trays-just the feeding.

My teen was paid £5 per visit when the cat and owners lived on the same road as us. Now they've moved a 15 minute walk from us, they pay more.

We pay £20 per day for two visits. It’s less than a cattery would cost and means our elderly cat doesn’t have the upheaval and stress of dealing with new environs. We know the teen that visits spends time with the cat, makes a fuss of her, gives her a brush etc. As we pay well, they are very keen to do it so it works well for us too, knowing the cat is being well looked after.

Assuming job doesnt involve calling them in which can take ages, it's no more than a 5 minute pop in twice a day. NMW for under 18s is £6.40/hour so a fiver a day for 20 mins work tops is fair enough, plus he gets a free look in your knicker drawer. TBH i would have suggested some one off gardening instead and not muddied the waters of free cat care between friends!

They’re 14, it’s a few minutes each visit. Not even having to do litter trays etc. Assuming it’s a week, £35 is a reasonable amount for a 14 year old. £70 seems a bit excessive

I pay a professional cat sitter to come twice a day at £10 per visit (so £20 per day) when I go away.

This £10 is for her to stay around 15-20mins and feed my cat and play with her/give her cuddles. And every visit she sends me a pic or little video. And I think that’s fair for £10 a visit.

I think for a teenager just popping round and feeding the cats, quick job, £5 per visit is more appropriate.

I charge £15 a day for two visits, £20 for three etc. That’s with insurance, turning lights on/off, putting bins out, feeding/litter trays etc.

Doesn’t matter if it’s unskilled. It’s not just 20 mins a day, it’s a tie. Professional sitters would charge £20 a day, so it’s worth more than a fiver. Plus it’s keeping an eye on the house.
Unskilled doesn’t mean not valuable.

Thank you all. I think I'll give him £10 a day. It's so hard for kids to get jobs-particularly out here in the sticks. And yes, it's easy, but it's a job I need to have done. I honestly don't see why I would pay him less than I would pay an adult because he's young.

One of my DC does this for several neighbours and charges £5 per visit and if we go away we pay other teenagers the same. We prefer our cats to have 2 visits per day so it's £10 a day.

(Again just food, no litter)

No-one else in an unskilled job is getting a fiver for 20mins of work.

What a silly comment.

Why? I think it's perfectly valid.

I think a tenner a day is wildly generous and as a 14 year old I would have been giddy to receive even close to that. A fiver is more than enough IMO.

Whatever you pay maybe too it off with a voucher worth £10 or some such for Spotify or something like that.

Definitely. OP made a rod for her own back now, so while she looks after neighbours cat for free as always done, its gonna cost her £50 for 5 days till this kid disappears to uni or wherever!

I pay £20 for a weekend, £40 for Mon to Friday.

We don't have a litter tray. Teen lives a minutes walk away and loves cats. Wasn't expecting to be paid at all tbh but I'm very grateful.

That's a pretty mean spirited way of looking at it. It'll probably be a couple of times a year for maybe 4 years at the most and then it will revert back to adults doing it for free, meanwhile it will mean a huge amount to the young person.

@CutthroatDruTheViolent "I think a tenner a day is wildly generous and as a 14 year old I would have been giddy to receive even close to that. A fiver is more than enough IMO."

Don't forget the Cozzie Livs! 🤣🤣

As previously said:
It is a tie. The neighbour can’t just go out and forget about it for the day
There is the responsibility of locking and unlocking the doors.
It will take more than a few minutes.
A professional would cost a lot more.
Why should they be paid less because they are a child?

I have a "professional" cat feeder come round when I'm on hols. It's £8 per visit.
If it's the neighbour's teenager and no travel involved, I'd offer a tenner a day for visiting twice a day.

2 reasons - Children earn a lot less than over 18s/21s, its the law though you can pay more of course! But the OP usually gets this service for free as they offer the same service to neighbours, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Really this is just a tenuous reason to give the kid some cash rather than a bona fide cat sitting service.

I think £10 a day is fair, or if they will be staying and playing with your cat at each visit, I would increase it to £15.

I pay my lady £15 for coming in twice a day to feed , play/cuddle ( they like lots of cuddles and attention) and keep the litter tray clean.

If it were a local teenager and no litter tray to deal with I think probably pay £10 a day for two visits or £5 for one.

I pay £10 a day for 2 visits (though she often does more as we don't have a cat flap). I pay that much as she is reliable, knows the routine, and I want to keep her keen. Plus as she only lives a few doors down then her parents are on hand to supervise if needed e.g. vet visits (not needed so far thankfully)

@Firewalking " Really this is just a tenuous reason to give the kid some cash rather than a bona fide cat sitting service"

It's actually both.

Google teils me that the £1 a day I earned in the 90s for doing this is now worth £2.59! I was very happy with the arrangement, I remember feeling pretty flush at the time! They also brought me a gift from holiday. I would've done it for free though cos I loved the tough old cat.

We pay €10 per day for 2 visits a day. It's more than half the cost of the cattery, the cat is happier at home and we would have to drop to cattery the day before we go and pick up the day after, so it saves two days there. Massive cost saving to us, happy teenage cat-sitter and happy cat. Wins all round.